DISCLAIMER: I do not own this show, or these characters; I just borrow them.
Weathering the Storm Part 10
The pain in her shoulder was one of the first things that Dr. Weir felt as she started to come to, lying on a hard floor was the second. A jolt of fear coursed through Elizabeth as she remembered what happened to her the last time she was in this similar position; however the fuzziness in her mind kept the memories from grasping her totally and dragging her back into her personal pit of hell. She mentally opened up all of her senses to determine the threat that might still surround her. A faint moaning was heard, and it took only a few moments for Elizabeth to realize that the sound she was hearing was being issued from her own scratchy throat.
The initial fear from lying on the cold hard floor started to fade as Elizabeth took notice of the creature comforts surrounding her. There was a soft squishy object under her head, and a slight heaviness and warmth covered her from her chin to her toes. She heard the sounds of familiar voices around her, and heard the gentle snores of a nearby comrade. Regardless of knowing that she was surrounded by friends, Elizabeth did not want to be lying prone on the floor. Therefore, she worked to open her protesting eyes, and struggled to get into a better position. Whether an upright position was better for her physically or not, she could have cared less.
As Elizabeth struggled to reposition herself with only her left arm and legs, she noticed John and Teyla hurry over to her. They must have also heard me, damn. Elizabeth thought to herself.
"You should lie back down and rest, Elizabeth," John said as he squatted down next to her and placed his right hand on Dr. Weir's left shoulder in order to try and push her back to the floor and to prevent her upward motion. "Your shoulder wound was very severe, and you've lost a great deal of blood. I think you should just take it easy until the doctor gets here from Manara."
The few inches that Elizabeth had pushed herself off the floor were diminishing as John tried to get her to lie back down, and the distance that was not minimized by John, was minimized as Elizabeth's left arm went limp with fatigue. When John mentioned her shoulder injury, the fear started to come back. But this time the fear was from what others might know of the atrocities that had happened in her office. She started to fight even harder to sit up.
Teyla watched the fear flicker across Dr. Weir's face, and realized that there was a bigger reason that Elizabeth wanted to sit up other than the fact that the floor was hard and uncomfortable. Therefore despite Major Sheppard's wishes, Teyla went to Dr. Weir's side in order to help her sit up.
As Teyla knelt on the floor and helped pull Elizabeth into an upright position, their eyes met. The sorrow and compassion hidden behind Teyla's eyes clued Dr. Weir into the fact that Teyla knew what had happened to her. Her eye's darted to John's face to see it he also knew. His eyes spoke of kindness and helpfulness toward her, but lacked the hate and anger that she knew would be blazing beneath the surface if he knew.
John quirked his eyebrows at Elizabeth as she was glaring at him in such an odd way; to cover up her glare for being anything other than just looking in his direction, and to prevent him from trying to get her to lay back down, she mentioned to him, "my shoulder should be elevated to prevent more blood lose."
"She's got you there," Dr. Beckett stated chuckling.
Dr. Weir glanced down the wall that she was leaning on, and noticed the jovial faces of Carson and Aiden as they glanced her way. They were also in too good of a mood to know what had happened only earlier in the day. While she was grateful that her secret was still safe for the most part, she also wondered how those around her were clueless to what had happened. She was dirty and ashamed, and noting was as it was earlier; however they still acted as though everything was the same. How do they not notice the difference in me, if nothing else. 'EVERYTHING IS DIFFERENT!' she wanted to yell to them… to the world.
Elizabeth felt movement to her left, and heard the soft shifting of clothing as a person came to rest next to her. Dr. Weir started to recoil from the nearness of another person when she felt her hand being grasped in order to keep her stationary. She looked down at her hand and noticed that it was entwined with a small tanned hand. She felt and saw the movement of the other hand grasping her own. Elizabeth looked up to the face of the hand's owner, and noticed Teyla smiling an understanding smile toward her. Dr. Weir let a small smile grace her face in gratitude of the friendship that was staring her in the face, and also for the understanding that Teyla now shouldered with her. Not everything is different, Elizabeth started to realized. She still had friends around, and she was still the leader of this expedition. She promised herself that she would not let the horrors of the day change what she was. Her promise was made as her eyes started to droop closed.
Sleep claimed Dr. Weir. She did not notice as Teyla's hand gently moved her head to rest upon her shoulder. She did not notice the gate activation bringing forth the selected military and medical personnel. She did not wake up as John reached down and gently picked her up for the trip to the infirmary, or the surgery that waited her there. In fact the next time consciousness graced her was twenty one hours later.
Elizabeth again noticed that she was lying down; however this time it was against the softer and warmer infirmary mattress than against the cold, hard floor. She no longer felt the searing pain from her shoulder, and the fuzziness of her thoughts let her know that this was due to some heavy duty painkillers. She thought about snuggling back up into the bed and letting her mind float between dreams and drugged wanderings; this would definitely insure that she would not have to wake up fully and face the truths that she knew would be present in the harshly lit infirmary. However the promise she made early in the day started to nag at the back of her consciousness; the voice kept getting louder, trying to force her to wake up and do what she needed for the people of Atlantis.
'Alright I'm up,' Dr. Weir stated to the nagging sensation, however all that came out of her mouth was a slight moan that informed those around her that she was awake.
Teyla and John were both waiting for Elizabeth to wake up; however their reasoning for doing so were far from the same. Teyla wanted to make sure that there was a friendly face around when she woke up, one who knew what had happened to the doctor and would be able to help where others would not. John said that he wanted to talk to Dr. Weir about what to do with the city and the people still on Manara as he hated the politics that went into running the city. Give me a gun any day, he thought over what he was seeing that Elizabeth had to go through on a daily basis. Teyla could tell from the way John jumped up to check on Elizabeth at her slight vocalization was far from just wanting help running the city as he stated. She could see the worry in his eyes, and had heard his ranting for the last few hours about what he would do if he ever saw Kolya again. The anger that burned in his eyes as he threatened the man was nothing compared to what Teyla knew she would be seeing if he knew the truth; however that truth was Elizabeth's, and hers to do with as she pleased. Teyla would just need to let the other women know that she would be there for her; therefore she stepped up behind Major Sheppard to insure that she was also in her leader's line of sight as Elizabeth's eyes started to twitch open.
The hazy feeling from the drugs and the desire to curl up and sleep fought Elizabeth as she tried to get her eyes to open. She finally found the strength to pry them open into slit, but she had to close them quickly as the lighting tried to burn through her cornea. She heard some shifting next to her and a female voice say quietly that the light was blocked. Elizabeth again fought to open her eyes, and found that it was not as difficult to do so this time around. She blinked a few times to get her bearing of where she was, and realized that the light was indeed blocked as Teyla stood in its path. A smile came to Teyla's face as she noticed Dr. Weir staring at her. She had opened her mouth to say something when the man next to her diverted Elizabeth's attention with words of his own.
"So how are you feeling? Do you need some water?" John asked as he picked up the nearby pitcher in order to pour some water into a small glass with a straw sticking out of it. Before Elizabeth fully comprehended the first question, John continued, "Do you want to sit up?" He helped her to sit up, and placed the straw at her lips so that she could take her first thirst quenching sip.
"I'm feeling better," Elizabeth crocked out. She did not look over toward Teyla as she said this, as she was sure that her eyes would betray her. But she really was feeling better physically. The drugs were keeping the pain at bay, and the sling was preventing her from moving her arm in a way that would cause more pain.
The two near Dr. Weir knew that even if she was dying, she would not want to let others know for fear of worrying them. Therefore a silence descended on the group as they did not know what other small talk would be acceptable. For as the sun was starting to peak out of the clouds and brighten up the city, no one wanted to bring up the topic of weather.
"I thought I heard noise in here," a petite female doctor said as she rounded the corner before the trio could find another line of conversation in order to break the silence.
"So doc, how's the patient?" John asked her as she picked up the notes at the end of the bed and studied them.
"Hello, the patient is right here," Dr. Weir grumbled.
"I'd say she going to make a fine recovery," Dr. Copper stated as she tried to hide her smile behind her hand as she reached up to grab her stethoscope.
As the doctor leaned over the bed railing to listen to her heartbeat, Elizabeth asked, "How's Rodney, and Dr. Beckett?"
"Shhh" the doctor stated, and the next few moments of silence seemed to drag on for Elizabeth. Finally the doctor pulled away from her patient and started to fill the leader of Atlantis in on how her people were doing. "Knowing that you would want to be informed of their progress, both doctors asked me to let you know how they were, or you know I would be stating patient confidentiality." Seeing a slight nod from the doctor in front of her, Dr. Copper continued, "Dr. Beckett had a slight concussion. He is being watched for the night. Rodney was stitched up and was given an IV to get his blood sugar levels back to normal. He should be fine in no time; however, he insists that he is catching pneumonia from being out in the cold rain for so long. But other than a few sneezes I think the rain has had no effect. And knowing Dr. McKay as well as any other doctor here," she paused musing over the hypochondriac that graced these walls more often than anyone would desire, she chuckled as she finished her thought "the sneezes are probably allergy related."
The foursome shared a much needed chuckle before the question of the hour came up, "So when can I get out of here?" Dr. Weir asked. She hoped to be able to get back to work as soon as possible so that she could get this city and it's people back to the normal everyday activities.
"I would like to keep you for another 48 hours, however I doubt that will be fair to the medical staff here," Dr. Copper stated. "Rest for the next 24 hours and I'll see what I can do." Before Dr. Weir could start to complain about either length of time, the doctor walked away to check on the other patients in the infirmary.
Dr. Weir watched as the doctor passed from sight, and then she turned her gaze back toward Major Sheppard and asked, "How is the city fairing?"
John started to explain how a few military personnel and engineers were going over the main areas of the city in order to determine the structural stability of those areas so that the people on Manara to come home safely. It was briefly mentioned how the Genii learned to get into the city, and Dr. Weir could see the pained look on Teyla's face when she was reminded that an Athosian was injured and as a result betrayed the people of Atlantis. There was no time to dwell on this point for too long as John went on to ask what Elizabeth thought should be done with Sora. This lead to a heated debate between Teyla and John over whether she should be seen as a prisoner or a victim of circumstances. The two turned from their argument to see what Dr. Weir thought and noticed that her head was starting to tilt toward her shoulder, and her eyes kept trying to close for a much needed rest. The quiet alerted Dr. Weir, and she jerked her head back to its upright position, but the damage was already done. Teyla and John had both noticed that she was tired. Despite her protests to keep talking about the city, they helped her to lie back down.
Thinking that the sole reason Dr. Weir wanted to stay awake was to work, Major Sheppard mentioned that the city would be able to welcome its citizens back no sooner than 24 hours later. While Dr. Weir wanted to see her people home safely, and to get the city back to its original splendor, the main thought on her mind was the hope that she was so tired and drugged that the memories would stay at bay.
Dr. Weir assumed that luck was on her side as she recalled no dreams what-so-ever when she awoke. She was also doing much better, therefore the doctors decided to let her out in order to watch her people come home. However this stipulation came about only after Elizabeth promised to go to her quarters and rest once everyone was back safely. Therefore Dr. Weir stood on the balcony overlooking the stargate and watched as her people came home. She saw the worried looks on a few faces, as they wondered what damage they were coming home to. However they did not know of most of the damage that took place in their absence. Earlier in the infirmary, a semi-lucid Dr. Weir informed those around that she did not want to add to the worries of those coming back. Therefore the information about the Genii infiltration of the city, and the injuries of the city's remaining few personnel were to be kept at a need to know basic. Dr. Weir was still struggling over what they would tell anyone who wondered why a Genii inhabitant was now in the city for an undetermined length of time. But that would be determined in the future. Currently Elizabeth just wanted to revel in the safety of those coming home.
John observed the leader of Atlantis as she watched the few stragglers come in through the stargate. He noticed that she had a slight grin on her face, and he knew it mirrored his own feelings over the safety of those from Atlantis and the mainland as they returned home safely. He wondered over to Dr. Weir in order to talk to her first as the military leader of Atlantis, and then as a friend. "What do you want to do with her?"
Dr. Weir did not need to ask who John was talking about. He had already made his view on the Genii female clear when he had visited her in the infirmary mere hours ago. "Oh I don't know yet. We'll keep her locked up for the time being." She hoped that this would appease his fear over what Sora might do. "Maybe releasing her to the Genii will help ease tension," she stated. But regardless of easing tension between the Genii and the Atlantians, she knew that she would have trouble if the situation arose. While signing the death warrant of Sora would not hurt as much as her choice earlier in the day about saving Teyla and Carson or the city. Regardless, friend or foe, Elizabeth knew that she would have trouble knowing she was the ultimate cause of anyone's death.
John would have liked a better answer, but he knew that not all situations had a perfect solution. That was one of the reasons that he liked math so much. There was always an answer in math, and a logical one at that. Well, you do as long as the math doesn't get to complex, he thought to himself "You're extremely optimistic you know that?" However he did drop the situation, knowing that an answer to everyone's liking would not be solved while standing here.
"You think so?" Elizabeth questioned as she thought about how her optimism of people hurt her throughout the day. Twice she had been optimistic of saving her people from Kolya, and twice he had thrown that optimism in her face and hurt her even more. She started to regret that she was optimistic, as it only seemed to lead to pain. But as she watched the last few groups start to come through the stargate, she realized that her optimism kept her fighting, for herself, her people, and her city. She listened slightly to the conversation that John was having with Rodney, who had walked up when she wasn't paying attention.
John noticed Dr. McKay coming toward him and Elizabeth. He also noticed a crude bandage that Rodney had wrapped around his arm. "What is that for?" John questioned with his eyebrows raised toward the ceiling. "Are you going for sympathy from the female population? Or are you afraid your arm might fall off despite the numerous sutures Dr. Copper placed in your arm?" John chuckled as he mentally made a note of another odd antic from Rodney in which to make fun of him with in the future.
"HaHa," Rodney sarcastically chuckled back at John, as he started to give lame reason. "It started to bleed again, and I thought this would help." He said knowing that John could see through his weak attempt at an excuse.
"You just didn't want to go to the infirmary, in case Nurse Bell noticed you. Afraid of commitment are we?" John asked.
"She does not want commitment, she wants to jump me. And with her build she would probably kill me, or at least injure me. And then what would you all do during the next emergency?" Rodney said as he thought about Nurse Bell. She had a physique that looked like she would have done well as a body builder.
"Well we would all be a little saner, and there is always Dr. Zelenka," John joked back. He noticed the nurse's lustful gaze on Rodney after one of their many post-mission physicals, and had been making fun of Rodney ever since. John wondered if she enjoyed giving Rodney shots even more now as he had brushed off a blatant come on line about a month ago. John smiled his patented smile as Rodney glared at him.
At the talk of injuries, John looked over to glance at Elizabeth. He noticed that she was not wearing the sling that the doctor had given her in order to keep her shoulder immobile, and he asked her about it.
"It's in the conference room," she stated as thoughts about her struggles to re-enter her office in order to place it in there. "I didn't want those returning to worry over what was over and done with. They still haven't learned about the Genii penetrating the city," she cringed at her choice of words, "and I don't want them to if it can be helped." She knew that the military men would need to learn about another possible threat to the city, but the numerous civilians could be spared the detailed.
John let her explanation stand, and the threesome continued to watch the last few people come through the gate. Dr. Weir continued to wonder about whether everything would turn out okay, from the Genii incident, and the storm that ravaged the city and the mainland; however her fears were soon relieved. The minute Dr. Weir knew for sure that Atlantis and its people would be ok was when Rodney joked about food, and Major Sheppard asked how far into advance you could book vacation leave. Elizabeth watched as the rest of her people came home through the Stargate, and marveled at how well they had weathered the storm, both figuratively and literally. However she knew it was going to take a long time to get everything back to the way it was before the hurricane and the Genii.
AN: So SO sorry about the long time for not writing. Between school, and moving twice this summer, it has been hectic. To make up for this lack of writing, I will give you a few hints: it will be quite awhile before the others learn of what happened to Elizabeth, but it will be interesting when and how they do. Aiden is the first to learn, and then the doctor, you can assume how all you want . John and Rodney find out at the same time—but that will be way WAY in the future. I'm hoping to keep writing this story by interweaving it with the show, and have 20 some pages of notes that I need to expand on all the way through season one—not sure how to fit in this story with season two yet—partially because I haven't seen much of the season so far. Hope you like the story and where I take the characters in order to stay with this story. Thanks.